36 ATLAS OF NERVE CELLS 



Plate XVI. shows another Purkinje cell with its branches. The tree-like appearance of 

 the branches is well marked in this plate, and the thorn-like appearance of the gemmules 

 which cover the branches. It will be noticed that the arrangement of the branches conforms 

 to the situation of this cell at the bottom of a sulcus, and that the dendrites are strictly 

 limited to the molecular layer, and do not enter the granular layer at any point. It is only 

 by the Golgi method of staining that the remarkable number and complexity of the divisions 

 of these dendrites has been made known. 



The function of the Purkinje cell is undoubtedly to preside over the equilibrium of the 

 body. When it is considered that the act of balancing requires a nice adjustment of 

 muscles throughout the entire body, that every movement even of eyes and head implies a 

 shifting of the centre of gravity, which must be compensated for when one is standing, by 

 the greater or less contraction on one side or the other of the muscles of the trunk and 

 limbs, and when, moreover, the necessity of constant variations .of this adjustment in the 

 motions of the arms, in ordinary gesticulations, in walking, running, dancing, etc., which 

 must be controlled by a competent unconscious mechanism is appreciated, it becomes a 

 matter of less astonishment that the function of these cells is one of the most important in 

 the nervous system, and that their complexity of structure is so great and their connections 

 with other parts are so numerous. 



